'Tikka' Risk With Curry

An average takeaway meal can contain a whole day's intake of saturated fat, a new report suggests.

A survey by Which? magazine has revealed that an average portion of takeaway curry contains 23.2g of saturated fat, which is 3.2g more than a woman should eat in a day.

Which? tested 10 Chinese and 10 Indian takeaways within a two-mile radius from its office that offered a delivery service.

The survey also revealed that the same cooked meal by different takeaways or sold by different supermarkets "varied widely" in nutritional content and applied "particularly to Indian and Chinese takeaways".

The fat content in pizzas was also found to be "quite different" from the information on their website.

Four Domino's cheese and tomato pizza tested had at least 50% more fat per 100g than the website stated, according to the Which? results.

Worryingly for consumers, takeaways large and small aren't legally required to give any information about the nutritional content of their food.

Which? has recommended consumers to avoid deep-fried dishes, such as battered food, prawn toast, samosas and spring rolls and choose tandoori, steamed or stir-fried dishes instead.

It is also recommended that diners choose boiled rice over pilau or egg-fried rice.

The average Chinese contains 1,436 calories, which takes men 291 minutes of moderate exercise to burn off and takes women 359 minutes.

In March, Yo! Sushi became the first restaurant chain in the UK to label its dishes according to the Food Standards Agency's traffic lights system, which helps consumers identify foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt.

Some pizza chains, such as Pizza Hut and Domino's, list nutritional information on their websites.

Neil Fowler, the editor of Which? said that "we don't want to be killjoys when it comes to takeaways" but "we would like people to be aware of just how much of their daily food intake comes in just one meal"

"A day's worth of fat or sugar shouldn't be ignored," he said.

A spokesman for Domino's has expressed concern over the findings and said pizza-making is regularly monitored in all of the franchises' stores and that they are "very surprised to see variances of the size that Which? reported".

He added that the franchise is currently conducting a "thorough review" to ensure that customers have "accurate nutritional data".

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency said that "we need to find an approach to suit what is a very diverse sector" and "which will provide customers with a simple and effective way for them to understand what is in their food".

(DS)